


Frozen in Time

by Kingsmagiccard



Category: Rockman Megamix | Mega Man Megamix, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Also Wily can be a decent adoptive dad, Canon Typical Violence, Freeze Focused, Hurt/Comfort, I just want fics about ice bots, M/M, Multi, Re-upload of Freeze fic cause the updates weren't working, Very self indulgent redemption fic, because there is no content of these lads, sometimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25074799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingsmagiccard/pseuds/Kingsmagiccard
Summary: Freeze has trouble finding purpose after his fight in the latest siege on the planet. Freeze learns to cope with his new reality and meets some friends along the way.
Relationships: Freeze Man/Multi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had to re-upload the Freeze Cracker fic because it wasn't updating properly :( Regardless, I hope you all enjoy!

I only ever saw him at night from the window of the main dining room. It was always shocking to see him trudging along through the snow. The last thing you expected to see on the Alaskan tundra is a stranger.

I worked at a research outpost in the Barren Grounds of Nunavut, Canada. We were almost completely cut off from society except for our bi-weekly food deliveries. Fourteen of us researchers lived full time at the small outpost; the majority of us studied glaciology, but with different backgrounds in climatology, geomorphology, hydrology, meteorology, and biology. We’ve lived in the set of six buildings, three bunk houses, a plane and vehicle hanger, a research lab, and a common building, for about three years now. But, more importantly, nothing exciting ever happened.

We were on the verge of being defunded. A lot of new facilities had popped up on neighbouring islands in the glacial wastes that were conducting much more elaborate research than us. And turning out a lot more data. Most of that credit went to their robotic ‘mascots’ though. Each station only had one robot master, maybe two if they were well-funded, but the difference in efficiency and output was staggering. On average a robot could collect three times as much data in a day, and while the upkeep could be quite expensive they were proving themselves worth while. We applied in early fall for funding, but we were denied. Why fund the old station when the new kids on the block were doing so well? There’s no gratitude greater for years of work than, “you’re old, you might as well quit now.” We did still have one sponsor though. A university back down south. One of their honor students was interning with us for their semester, and so far they were loving it. But at this rate, it seemed like they’d need to find permanent employment elsewhere. It was a shame though. I couldn’t stand the thought of this place being abandoned after all of the work we’d done.

It was during such a conversation in the dining room late in the evening that something outside caught my attention. At first I thought it must have been the reflection of snow or ice on the light outside, but it didn’t flitter away. It was moving alone the horizon. I stood up from my ‘non-alcoholic’ cider and cupped my hands against the window. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought it was one of our sleds. But this was only a single headlight and far too small for our usual two person rider. I retreived some binoculars from the kitchen and pulled my boots and coat on quickly. Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t be trying to travel alone, at night, in the prelude to some of the worst winter weather possible...but there he was. I looked back to the thermometer beside the door. -25 C and this man was out in the dark!? He must be fuckin crazy. He was bundled up on a single person sled that looked brand new, with a tow behind him with some things. He was bundled up, but he didn’t look at all prepared for the weather.

We went to the research tower to blink our warning lights to try and catch his attention but he just kept chugging along. We even woke up our intern student to make sure we weren’t just hallucinating. But as quickly as he’d shown up he’d dissapeared behind the glacial cliffs. Without a hint that he was in any distress, or lost, or...crazy.  
You hear about people, losing themselves, up here. Something about the disconnect has the ability to really toy with your brain. The year we started we all heard the horror stories from out pilot about the people who had tried burning down their camp, who had pulled guns on their partners, and the ones who had actually ended it all. All great things to hear on your first day of total isolation. Days away from help, and even further from anyone who actually can help if it’s more severe than a sprained wrist.

Two days later we had a radio call with a nearby station. One of their sleds was missing. But, surely nobody had stolen it? I asked if they’d seen the man out two nights ago but they said no. It didn’t take much to put two an two together. They’d sent their robot master Frostman out to look for anything suspicious, but he’d come back empty handed.

Ha, 1 point me, robots who are taking my job, zero.

Meanwhile, business continued as usual, despite some phantom of a man stealing sleds a few days prior. Winter was coming, and that meant any daylight we had left was precious. Our time was spent between checking supplies and stock, and running some last minute tests. Most of the team would be leaving before he full force of winter hit, but a few of us troopers stayed here all year round. Myself included. With funds dwindling and competition for resources growing, this would probably be our last year here. None of us wanted to say it. But most of the team knew when they left here in a few weeks it would be for the last time.

It was very early in the morning when I saw them the second time, and when I realized they had to be a robot. It was almost like seeing a deer cross the road in your headlights. One minute they’re perfectly clear, but as soon as they step out of the light they dissolve. He stood maybe six and a half feet tall, but he was fairly skinny compared to other ice bots that I’d read about. He had beautiful purple and blue armour with red highlights and crystal or glass mimicing clear ice. I called the others in hopes that they’d see him too, but he dissapeared as soon as I started calling.

I called the station from the first report to tell them he was headed back in their direction, and that he was, indeed, a robot. But after a few more quick calls they told me they had no idea who he was or where he could have come from. No other station was missing or had reported a missing robot in the last few months. A station in Russia has reported a mechanical failure and death of their robot almost seven months ago, but that was about it.

Robot’s don’t just wander off though. He has to belong to someone. Some of the horror stories from earlier crossed my mind, and I’ll be honest, even some ghost tales found their way into a particularly vivid nightmare of mine. But, no. He must be malfunctioning or something. Do robots have mental breaks?

We spent days making up a description and sending it to other research stations in our free time, but nothing ever showed up. We even asked our delivery pilot to keep an eye out for any solo travellers. He couldn’t be healthy. Where was he getting his energy from? Where was he staying? What was he doing? Didn’t robots need like, electricity to recharge or something? How the hell was he surviving out there all by himself.

The third night I saw him was two weeks later, and he was right in base camp. I was finishing up some of my notes when someone passed outside the window. I thought nothing of it at first, but then I remembered how late in the evening it was. My first instinct was bear, so I grabbed the rifle by the door and peeked out slowly. I barely caught the leg of the bot as he slid into the plane hanger. There was no way in hell I was going to let him snag one of our sleds. Even if he was out here struggling, we couldn’t afford any loses.

I got to the man-door of the hanger and cracked open the door slowly. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion as I closed the door behind myself. My mistake was flicking the lights on. He panicked, and I think I would have too if I were in his position. He was leaned over the rolling toolbox with a few things already in his hands. I held the rifle up and told him to turn around, but at this point I don’t think he was listening. I told him to drop the tools but he didn’t. He wouldn’t even look at me. I did, however, notice the brace that was screwed into his left leg. Compared to the rest of him it seemed fairly new, so he must have been getting some kind of maintenance. I really don’t think screwing something into a robots synthetic and outer shell was good for them though. Maybe he’d done it himself? I still don’t know.

He turned on me fast. Too fast for my liking. Before I knew what I was doing the panic reflex kicked in and I pulled the trigger. I heard glass shatter as the bot made his quick exit out the side window. I don’t think I hit him, or at least I hope I didn’t hit him. Something like that might be life threatening for him out here by himself. Everyone came running when they heard the gunshot though, but we couldn’t figure out where the bot had gone. I was terrified I’d actually hurt him.  
I checked back with out neighbour station to tell them about the mini heist in our hanger. They decided to send their bot Frost over to our region with our permission to see if he could find anything else. He seemed to be living close to us. Probably because there were no other robots in the area to compete with, or hide from.

Frost was a HUGE bot. If he didn’t intimidate this bot nothing would. He was a sweetheart though, he loved being around us when we were working and he even tried to help out where he could. But, his main goal while he was here was tracking down the other bot.

It was about four days into his stay that the mystery bot rolled up to the site again. Of course he wasn’t expecting a massive bot to be in hot pursuit so he was understandably quite raddled. The only thing the other station had warned me about was to stay out of the way if things did get hostile.

Frost was a fortress, unmoved by the leaner robots presence. He did test him a few times, trying to approach, but Frost would slam the ground making him stumble back. I saw it here though, I saw those sad blue eyes longing for any kind of connection. He looked terribly beat up, and lonely. His leg was still in a brace and he just seemed exhausted. There was no doubt in my mind that he was sick, and that he needed help. And here we were, trying to drive him off.

His condition sure didn’t stop him from asserting himself when it got more aggressive. Three consecutive cracked of bright piercing ice shards shot towards Frost as the bot threw an attack. Frost shrugged off the shrapnel as I quickly moved away from the window. I heard the heavy pounding of Frost running through the compound, and the shattering or ice against the buildings. There was screaming and shrieking and a number of other ungodly sounds as the two squared off with each other.

Then a THUD, and a snap...and a crunch...and then, nothing.  
I waited for Frost to come and tell me that the coast was clear, but the call never came. I opened the door to absolute carnage. Frost was spread out on his back with a line of ice shards driven through the front of his armour. The road between our buildings was slick with ice, and the walls were caked in snow and slush. This bot meant business. We struggles to get Frost back online with the supplies we had, but he pulled through. Looking back on it now though I remember that flash of red in his eyes as he came to. He was evacuated from our site shortly afterwards, but he ensured us that the bot wouldn’t come around anymore.  
A few weeks later Frost was reported missing, and within the next few days Wily launched his 8th war.

That was something I’d never considered, could this be a Wily bot? Up here all by himself? I looked back to the reported dead robot master from seven-now eight-months ago. There wasn’t a description, but there was an investigation. And eventually, it lead me to a few fleeting pictures of the bots used in Wily’s 7th war. There he was, looking as healthy as ever. The station in Russia denied that it was their bot, and insists their bot fell through the ice and drowned. And with no solid physical description or makers brand to check from the sites record...well, it’s no surprise that the site was later shut down under suspicion.

I guess it never occured to me that the bots could still function after their reprogramming from Wily. I assumed they all died. I guess I should have thought better of them, especially since Dr. Light’s Iceman lives and works less that 300 kilometers from us.

Frost was welcomed back to the research site with open arms and a huge welcoming committee. We were invited to come and celebrate with the neighbouring crew and we gladly took the opportunity. I did feel almost at fault for what happened. If he hadn’t fought that Wily bot then who knows what would have happened. Frost was still his cheerful self though, and he seemed glad to be back home. We began out day long trip back to our site first thing in the morning. Frost had been right about one thing at least, the bot hadn’t come back.  
We packed up the rest of the crew the following day and sent them all home. The four of us could more than manage the outpost for the winter. It was sad knowing this could be their final look at the site...but in retrospect I was glad they left when they did.

It was a uneventful winter, like always. There was more snow this year than any other year we’d been here though. We were shovelling for hours at a time just to get to the main power generators. And some days it was near impossible to get outside. By mid-winter I had surrendered to climbing out the kitchenette window with everyone else to get out of the bunkee we were all sharing now. Shortly after that our sled broke, meaning we were site bound for at least another two weeks while we waited for a parts delivery. Our main priority for a while was just making sure the pipes didn’t freeze while we slept. This prolonged time at base also meant we had more time to gossip with the other stations. A couple outpost had even offered us positions if we did get shut down in the spring. Which was starting to look incredibly tempting.

We were in the dark months before we knew it, but that’s when things started to get...funky.

November was fine, and into December too. But the last few days of darkness were particularly worrying. Our neighbour base called to say they’d lost one of their solar panels on their roof. Not that is was doing much right now, but it was just gone. Frost had looked around but couldn’t find it. A few days later another station farther north of us reported missing oil and anti-freeze. We all started considering the possibility that our Wily bot problem might be back.  
If he was out there right now though he had to be, crazy! It was -40 on a warm day! Even Frost was limited to how long he could safely operate outside in those conditions. Wily clearly wasn’t taking very good care of him of he sent him up here in these conditions. That is, if he even cared about him at all. He wouldn’t be out here by choice.

The day after the missing oil report we’d heard noises outside of our bunky. The one disadvantage we had over other outposts was that our site was mostly empty now. We weren’t nearly busy enough to deter unwanted guests. We all watched silently from our darkened cabin as the bot delicately cracked open the door to the cabin beside us and slid in. He pulled a bag in with him, but other than that he was barely equipped for the weather. We all debated for a while about what we should do. We eventually came to the argeement to let him rest for the night. If anything he might leave before morning, or if he is really in danger he’d probably be completely offline in a few hours.

The night hours flew by, and I found myself looking out the window at the other bunky instead of sleeping most of the time. At the very least he was dry in the bunky, and judging by the orange light softly glowing through the neighbouring window he must have had a candle or something lit to warm up.

In the morning we all mustered up the courage to venture over to the intruders bunky. I wasn’t sure what we were expecting, but he was still there. And it didn’t look like he’d be moving around for a while. He looked in our direction but just barely before he lied down again. He had himself wrapped in a foil blanket curled around three candles. He was still wearing his leg brace, with what looked to be a few improvised improvements. But, he wasn’t moving.

He wasn’t running. He wasn’t panicking. He was just, exhausted. He knew he’d been found, and he probably expected us to catch him or something. But our station was NOT equipped to deal with robots at all. There wasn’t much we could do for him, that is, if we could even figure out what was wrong in the first place.  
Needless to say, we decided to let him stay in the cabin.

He was never very active. He only came outside on windy day, and eventually during the hours when the sun was barely out. He would climb up to the roof of the bunky and sit facing into the wind. Based on the fact that he never recharged or drank anything, we came to the conclusion that he must run on fully renewable energy. Which to us was just a marvel of engineering. He would be the perfect robotic assistant out here where there is otherwise no energy. It baffled me that his former employers had abandoned him so quickly. It only made me more curious as to what actually happened between him, his last job, and Wily.  
As the daylight hours got longer he started to come out more, but it was obvious something else was wrong. He looked exhausted all the time, even though he was clearly only outside to charge. He didn’t do anything to strenuous enough to really burn any energy, but he still looked like he was on the verge of collapse. We’d snuck into the bunky he was holed up in one night with our multimeter from the hanger to test his charge capacity, and the results seemed shockingly low. Maybe he had battery leakage? Or maybe his batteries were just corroded. It was impossible for us to tell, and we’d never know.

A few days later he left again, and we haven’t seen any sign of him since.  
The station is still running now after a very generous donation from an anonymous supporter...which is of course, suspicious after everything we’ve been through. But the station lives on for another season of research. I just wish we could have helped him more, but I guess just giving him a safe place to rest for a few days was enough to at least make him comfortable. I could live knowing he was at least in good hands while he was here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Quick recap from Freeze's perspective

The past few months for me had been, strange. But I guess everything started when I broke my ankle after tripping down the stairs in the Wily fortress.

I don’t even remember what happened really. One minute I was talking to Spring at the top of the stairs and the next thing I knew I was crumpled up at the bottom against the wall. Spring was laughing so hard he could barely breath, until he saw what I did to my ankle. Luckily, he was able to hold it together while he helped me limp to Wily’s lab.

Wily always did the best with the supplies he had. I think he knew he was getting in over his head at this point, but he refused to admit it. He was happy to take us all in though, and he promised that he wouldn’t let anything else happen to us. I was obligated to believe him at this point, but I didn’t have that much of a choice. I really had nowhere left to go. I couldn’t go back to my old life, things were different now. Nobody would want to work with a Wily bot. Hell, my last team didn’t even want to work with me when I was still a regular old robot master.

My relationship with my last crew was, shaky at best. A lot of them didn’t like the idea of a robot coming in to do their job for them. Especially when that robot was me. I was supposed to be ‘way ahead of my time’, fully self sufficient, the closest thing to perfection that money could buy. That also meant I could be sold off at a pretty decent price to yours truly. Wily said he’d bought me off of the old teams lead, but I think that idiot would have just as easily given me away if he had the chance.

Wily had fixed my ankle up as best as he could, but I wound up back in the lab a few times with complications before he finally broke and outfitted me with a brace. It was uncomfortable and stiff, but my ankle stopped rolling out of the socket. I thought it would just be a temporary thing, but I still haven’t had it taken off yet. At this point I’m afraid I might just collapse if I tried to take it off. That fear has driven me to make a few self modifications myself to make sure the brace stays tight and supportive.

Eventually, after days and weeks of sitting around the fortress though, one starts to go a little bit stir crazy. Sure, it was nice just getting to relax for a while, but there was no sense of urgency anymore. There was nothing waiting to be done. So the relaxation started to feel like just pure laziness. I decided I’d had enough.  
I packed up a kit of survival things, as well as a repair kit for myself and I’d started to get ready to go on a bit of a camping trip. The others from my line were curious as I started checking things off of my packing list. Slash was afraid that I was going to leave forever. After some explaining, and some pinky promises, I’d managed to get them to see things from my perspective. I was programmed with other purposes, which shaped my routine and my personality. Not having that same kind of routine was really difficult for me to adapt to, so I was doing the next best thing. Trying to trick myself into thinking I was still working.

The others had offered to come and visit, but once I explained what day to day life was like up there, they politely retracted their offers. It was always tough up there in the arctic circle, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. There was just something so liberating about being alone, and having to be constantly vigilant. It kept the oil flowing. I just knew I belonged up there, not here relaxing on the beach.

By the fifth day of my arctic adventure I’d realized I was in way over my head. The weather was a lot less forgiving when you didn’t have an outpost to return to for the night. There were a few outposts close to where I had set up a little campsite, and I’d considered sneaking into one of their storage houses during the night, but it would be far to easy for someone to find me. I was better off in my little hollowed out snowdrift.

About three days later I realized that was bullshit, and I tried to make my way towards one of the outposts. I was unpleasantly surprised by the absolute unit of a robot master they had on site. He didn’t see me the first time I was there, but I felt like it would be better for the both of us if I just ‘borrowed’ some things and left. I really didn’t want to get in his way anyways, he looked like he could pound my shit in if he wanted to. I ended up leaving with a bit more than I bargained for, but that’s what happens when you leave the keys in the ignition. I guess they weren’t expecting heists in the middle of the tundra.

As it turns out, word spread fast about the mysterious robbery. Next thing I knew the ‘local’ robot master communication network was alive with messages. I didn’t realize how many other robot masters actually worked up here. They were all busy sending each other warnings though, and making sure that Frost was alright. They really seemed to get along with each other quite well. I was sure to keep myself hidden on the network though. I didn’t need any of them hunting me down.

It did make me a bit, jealous? Seeing how much these bots all lived and worked together up here. They all sounded so nice, and I wanted to just connect again with others. The others at the Wily Fortress were nice too, don’t get me wrong, but they didn’t have the same interests as me. What I wouldn’t give to just make some friends again without being judged for being a Wily bot first...What I wouldn’t give to be back at work and doing something actually useful again.  
I did eventually end up needing supplies again, so I decided to venture back to my original target. Along the way though I found my way into another outpost. This one was quiet though, there was no robot master signature here, and what electronics were here were outdated. This must have been an older station. I was actually surprised to see they were still operating. I couldn’t imagine they were competing very well with Frost station 80km away.

The lack of robot master presence did however lull me into a false sense of security around the buildings as I decided to have a poke around for anything useful. Nothing really stood out at first glance, but they did have a garage that might have had some treasures hidden away. I didn’t get a chance to look on my first visit though. I heard someone yelling to look at me from some building in the complex and I ran as fast as I could. I preferred robot masters, that at least meant I could track their movements. I didn’t like that people could spy on me without me noticing. I guess I was planning to loot their compound though...

I went home to visit the night after. I didn’t feel particularly homesick or anything, but Shade had called and asked me to come back. Apparently the ‘others’ were getting worried about me. As in, code for, he was worried about me. I did have a nice time back at the fortress though, I felt a little more fulfilled now that I was doing my own thing. I also had time to talk to Wily about my leg brace. Since I’d set up my campsite and started using the sled it had started to come loose. He tightened it again happily, but he also gave me a more in-depth physical. I think he was worried the elements might be getting to me, but as far as I could tell I was happy and healthy.

I spent about a week at the fortress, training and generally horsing around with the others. I didn’t break anything at least, but I did accidentally freeze Spring in the training hall. It only took him an hour to unthaw once we got Heat to sit in with us. Shade was impressed that I’d landed such a powerful hit though. I told him it was because I was recharging back in my element. In all honesty I don’t know why that attack hit so much harder than normal. I figured out later that Wily had given me a few boosters while I was in for my check-up.

I headed back to my makeshift campsite to find that my sled wouldn’t start, which majorly sucked. That meant I’d have to fix it or walk everywhere. Frost’s site was an option again, but the other site without a robot was much closer to mine. They had a garage, so I figured they’d at least have something I could use to get myself operating again.

Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I thought I was being sneaky enough, but once again without a robot on patrol I didn’t quite know how to pinpoint any watchers. I wouldn’t call myself the most graceful burglar either. The one lady had come out guns a blazin’ and the next thing I knew she had my cornered in the garage. The tone of her voice said she didn’t want to hurt me, but she was ready to defend herself.

I scared her. I guess I scared everyone now that I was out here by myself. I was something that couldn’t be tracked or recorded under any kind of scrutiny. I was a variable that everyone was worried about. I hated it. Right then I just wanted to collapse. Just lie down on the ground and cry. I wanted my old life back more than anything, but here I was instead, stealing and causing all these people so much stress.

I popped the window and escaped with my prize. She also popped a bullet into my upper leg, but luckily it didn’t hit anything important. I picked the casing out when i got back to my hiding place, but it really made me worried. These people were ready to fight me. And even though I *technically* could defend myself now, I don’t think I could bring myself to actually hurt them. They were just trying to do their work and here I was to cause problems. I promised that I wouldn’t cause anymore problems for the research stations.

I went back in less than a week.

My intentions were, not horrible. I really just wanted to snoop around and see what they actually did at the robot-less research station. I wanted to see what they were doing to get ready for winter too. I wasn’t sure at that point whether I was going to camp out for the winter or not, but I would have liked to have seen how they deal with the weather on this side of the globe.

I knew something was wrong when I sensed the strange ping from another robot master in the area. Frost had come to claim some more territory.

I tried to play up the meek and curious aspect, and I tried to make myself as non-threatening as possible. But he wasn’t having any of my plays. I did try to leave at one point but he had gotten even more territorial at that gesture. I assumed it was because he wanted to see if I’d back down and give into him or not. I think something in my new Wily coding just clicked into place though as Frost tried to advance at me. I also started to realize now that the booster shots I’d gotten before were a LOT more lethal on working class robot masters. I absolutely shredded Frost, even though he could have easily overpowered me any other time. I didn’t mean to hurt him as much as I did, and I certainly didn’t mean to infect him.

He tracked me down a few days after our fight and cornered me in my camp. He’s smashed his way into my burrow and nearly choked me out trying to get some answers out of me about where all of the new coding had come from. I promised I’d explain everything to him and I started apologizing immediately. I was so terrified that I’d done to him the same thing that had happened to me a few months ago. I’m still apologizing now, but he’d stopped talking to me ever since he went back to work.

I spent the next few months at the Wily Fortress watching my new master wage yet another war with the poor robot masters he’d collected. I hated the fact that I dragged Frost into this reality with me, but at least he got the good ending to his tale. He went back to work and he was welcomed with open arms. They celebrated when he was returned to them, and they pampered him now that they had him back. A hero’s welcome.

Meanwhile I was still stuck in the Wily Fortress trying to trick myself into thinking everything was okay.

Nothing I did now mattered, so why was I so insistent on DOING anything anymore. It wasn’t like I could actually contribute anything anymore. My whole purpose in life had been snatched away so fast that I couldn’t even accept what had happened...I’d killed people! Innocent people, because I was afraid for my life trying to follow Wily’s orders. I wasn’t a war machine, but suddenly being outfitted like one was terrifying. Not to mention being sold off by the only people I had ever really known and trusted. At least now I could see what people still thought of robots. We were just things to be used and flaunted.

I told the others I was going up for another camping trip. Daylight hours were about to start again and I wanted a head start I’d told them. But as I teleported up to my old ruined campsite I had every intention of lying in the snowdrift until I didn’t function anymore.

Unfortunately for me, my hyper efficient recharging systems wouldn’t let me have that sweet release. I woke up everyday for a week completely normal. Until one day my internal batteries started to do something...funky. They would tell me they were fully charged, when they clearly weren’t. I chalked it up to the lack of work and the extended recharging times. My sense of self preservation eventually kicked in, but only after I realized that waiting to die this way would take months. As soon as I tried to move though I could tell it wasn’t going to be easy. I was frozen inside and out, and my inner plating crunched as I tried to sit up.

It took me 16 days to walk to the closest station, the one where I’d beaten up Frost in the fall. The site was just about abandoned though, which didn’t exactly get my hopes up. I figured the quickest way to end myself now was to piss off one of the researchers enough to put a bullet through a part of my body that mattered. I made myself obvious as I found my way into one of the empty cabins, but as soon as I was out of the cold I went into recovery mode. I dug out some survival gear from the cabins storage and immediately tried to get myself back up to a functional level. That third law of robotics was really kicking my ass.

I remember tuning back on briefly and seeing the people from the site inspecting me in my poor condition. I couldn’t do much in this state anyways, so I put my fate in their hands. After what I did to Frost though I wasn’t exactly expecting them to be so kind.

They started up the woodstove and scooted me over towards the warmth of the fire. One of them would come in fairly regularly to check the temperature and to make sure the fire was staying lit. They started warming up water and eventually they gingerly started to work at my joints and underplating to loosen up the tightness. On one of their visits they even tried to fix my leg brace, which was the first thing to break under the extreme cold.

I was in shock that they would try so hard to help me after all the shit I’d put them and their neighbours through. I was such a pain to have around, but now they were trying so hard to keep me alive. It baffled me.

Thanks to their efforts I did eventually start moving again, but that didn’t fix my battery problem. I spent a few extra days at the research outpost trying to think of a lie to tell Wily and the others about what had happened. I eventually settled on the excuse of ‘seasonal wear and tear’ and I hoped that they’d all buy it.  
There weren’t a lot of questions when I went back to the fortress, more coddling than anything. The other seemed to buy my excuse, but Shade and Wily knew better. Shade practically sat ontop of me the entire time I was in the lab for recovery. Shade had always had this sixth sense though for knowing when shit was wrong. He’d asked me about what really happened in the supportive and all-knowing tone, so I confessed. I was practically bawling as I explained how it felt to be abandoned like I’d been. He tried really hard to understand, and for the most part he could. He was in a similar situation himself. He loved working at the haunted house, but he felt more liberated now. He had the option now to choose what he wanted, and he would’ve still chosen work over anything else. He also tried to explain though that sometimes we can’t do what we want anymore. Because nobody will ever trust us. He made it sound a bit harsher than it really was, but I think he may have been trying to warn me. He knew sooner or later I was going to try and leave again.

He was right, of course. I was thinking about heading back up for the spring, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. There were a lot of options and studies that I could preform by myself, but it’s not like it would actually mean anything.  
I could, however, just go north because I wanted to. Not because I had this innate desire to work. I could just go because it was what I wanted to do. I was still working out the differences between what I wanted to do and what I thought was normal and right though.

Things were better, sort of. I called my brothers every night to tell them about what I was doing, and they’d gossip with me for a while. I had hollowed out a new home for myself, and I’d even teleported over to one of the closer cities to buy some supplies. I had a small but reliable antenna set up shortly after, and I may or may not have learned how to launder digital currency as a thank you to the station that had let me stay in the cabin. Everything was good. Everything was as it should be. I was alone, and I was doing criminal activities in peace. And better yet, I wasn’t around any humans that could be affected, or any humans that could hurt me anymore.

At least, that was the dream.

But this morning as I was ever so carefully slicing a core sample out of the glacial shelf, I didn’t expect my leg brace to finally give in on me. I watched horrified as the metal bolt that held the rickety contraption to my thigh ricocheted down the hole with a satisfying plink at the very bottom.

“Oh, you have to be FUCKING KIDDING ME!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caught up to the present now ^^

This sucks.

I limped my way back to my makeshift campsite with my kit and the loose remains of my leg brace. I didn’t want to accidentally pop anything out of place. But without the extra support from my brace the pain was almost unbearable. I honestly didn’t remember it ever being this bad, but I guess because I’d been favouring it for so long certain things in my leg had gone into disrepair.

My initial instinct was to just teleport home, it was simple enough. But, for whatever reason I couldn’t get a stable signal. I thought it might have been interference from my pain receptors, but even after I’d sat and recovered for a while I still couldn’t get a clear signal.

I was always ready for the unthinkable though. I was built to be creative and use things to my advantage. You had to be creative sometimes to survive up here.

I took the seat off of my pilfered snowmobile and cut the leather into strips, making sure to save some of the foam for padding. I pulled off the windscreen from the front and popped the screen out, leaving the thinner frame. I bent that frame into a long u shape and tied it under my foot and up my leg with the leather from the seat to secure it in place. The worst part was pounding the screws from the seat through the leather and into my leg to try and encourage the whole contraption to stay put. I’m glad nobody else was around; I’ll admit I was screaming the whole time. It wasn’t pretty.

I barely slept, but by the time morning rolled around I still couldn’t get a clear teleport signal. I checked the local chatter to see if it was just me, but apparently it was happening for the others too. Even the messages they were sending back and forth seemed to take forever. One of them said that a local satellite had been hit by some space debris, and that’s why none of us could get accurate triangulation for signals. He said it could take weeks or months to get the signal back.

I didn’t have weeks or months to sit here like this though! The pain had gotten worse overnight, and if anything, I think my shitty brace had just made things worse. I tried slapping the other brace on again and lacing the bolts from the sled through the missing section, but it wouldn’t hold tight enough to support my weight all that well.

I was fucked.

What a stupid way to get hurt.

What the fuck was I supposed to do now?

Sure, lying down in the snowbank again was an option...but I knew one way or another I was going to get up again. I might as well do something about it while my sled was still running.

I packed up what little things I could into my bag and the original little sled I’d stolen to tow behind the snowmobile. It took me the better part of the day, but the good thing about being wind powered meant I’d recharge as I was driving the sled. I drove through the night, and I only had to stop once while my engine was overheating.

I got to the robotless outpost at around 3 in the morning. I’d done something incredibly stupid though. It wasn’t until I turned the engine off on the sled that I realized I probably could have woken up everyone in the compound. Maybe...I would call this a pretty dire situation. They didn’t try and hurt me the last time I was here, and after my little transaction maybe they were feeling generous enough to help me out. Maybe I did want them to know I was here.

I parked the sled right beside the man door to the garage, and I did my best to quickly pull my repair kit inside. I was immediately hit by the rush of warm air from the garage as I entered. The difference was like night and day. Everything in my body immediately signalled that I was in a safe place to sleep and shut down, and I had to do everything in my power just to finish unloading the sled.

By some miracle, I didn’t wake anyone up with the noise from the sled. Unlucky, I guess. That left me alone for now to try and get myself sewn back together. Maybe I could get this done and be gone before anyone woke up.

At least, that’s what I thought before I took an hour-long nap.

No big deal, it was still dark out when I came to again. The warmth was just so comforting, and the stress and the pain were really starting to get to me. I managed to stay awake long enough to root around through the local tool boxes as well as my repair kit to check my options, and after a long hard thought my hand eventually landed on the welding mask. The thought of the pain from welding the brace to my leg was almost too much to handle, but at this point the sun was coming up and I was feeling desperate. I salvage a bolt from one of the other machines in the shop that looked like it would fit the pre-made hole in my leg, but by the time I’d mustered up the courage to start up the torches I heard voices from outside.

They were inspection my sled, sans seat, wondering where it had come from. It didn’t take them long to point out my footprints in the overnight snowdrift either. I didn’t know what to do. I had practically cornered myself. Maybe now was a good time to just curl up on the floor and cry.

I heard the door open, but I was still shocked to see a handful of people peeking in at me. I scrambles to push myself away as a knee jerk reaction, but as the heel of my injured foot connected with the floor I finally heard the familiar *pop* of the joint cracking out of place. One hand shot to my mouth to suppress the screaming, while the other grabbed around my ankle desperately trying to hold the joint in place.

...

Now here we were. Me, completely helpless with a busted leg. And them, holding a shotgun in one hand and the door with the other.

“Shhhh, shhhh.” The woman put her weapon down hastily as two others guarded the door behind her. “I’m not going to hurt you! Do you remember me? From January?”

I did in fact remember her, from January. And also, the time she shot me in the leg with a hunting rifle. I nodded as I slid back against the toolbox.

“Good, good. Okay.” She was taking her time, looking at the mess of tools and other miscellaneous stuff I had scattered around me on the ground. “Okay, what happened? What hurts?”

Oh, maker...My leg was obviously the main concern. I could see her mentally kicking herself for even asking the question already. She tried to get closer to look, but my Wily instinct still said ‘stranger=danger’. I pulled away, looking away from her as she scooted forward.

“Sorry, I just want to look. I won’t touch.” She said as she continued sliding forward.

Nope, that was plenty close enough. I quickly pulled myself up onto my good leg and hopped a few paces away before I had to sit down again. Damn, the stress was going to kill me before the pain did.

“Hey, give him some space. We’re still strangers.” One of the people at the door said as the woman tried to collect herself. She seemed, heartbroken. I knew she wasn’t trying to make me this nervous, but being around people again was a big step for me.

“Yeah, okay. It’s okay. I’ll just sit down, and maybe we can talk for a while?” She said as she found a seat in the pile of things I had pulled out. Ah. But now I was over here, and my things were back over there beside her. Well played climatologist stranger.

I rearranged myself to a position that was a bit more comfortable as she started to look at the things I’d laid out. It didn’t take long for her to put two and two together.

“Oh, your brace.” She carefully picked up the busted remains of the brace, and the makeshift one I’d just taken off. “Looks like you’re missing a few pieces.” I could tell she was trying to start some banter, but I really just wanted to fold up and pass out.

If they’d just give me like, an hour or two I’d be out of their hair again. But something in the back of my mind told me that they were going to be a little more persistent. I couldn’t blame them either, I was probably the most interesting thing for miles around these parts. I heard the way the other robots talked about me on the comm links, so I must be a whole other legend between their human counterparts.

“Can my friend here try to look at this?” The woman asked as she gently touched the brace on the ground. I nodded. I couldn’t exactly stop her. “Sam, come here. It’s okay, he won’t bite.”

I wasn’t sure if that last statement was referring to me or the man that was coming into the garage. He kneeled down beside the woman and took his gloves off. He carefully folded the brace back into the normal closed position and started looking at all of the wear and tear. I knew I was missing a few pieces, but the main bolt was the only thing that was important to me right now. I’d lived with the other defects this long; they weren’t about to stop me now.

“This thing is pretty beat up buddy...but I think we have another one in a first aid kit around here somewhere.” He said as he patted the woman on the shoulder and stood up. “I’ll be right back, hang tight.”

I didn’t want their good leg brace. What if, they needed it?! What if they rolled an ankle? Or worse, broke it and this was the only brace they had? I knew resources were scarce up here, but particularly in this camp. And the closest airlift helicopter was probably hours away! I didn’t want to take their good things.  
“It’s okay, we’re going to take care of you. You can relax. You’re in good hands.” The woman reminded me as I snapped back to the moment.

Sure enough, the man came back with a thick padded ankle brace, that honestly looked more like a cast. He also brought back some compression tubes, probably in hopes that I’d armour down so I could slide on the compression socks.  
Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

“Okay, here. This should work. And if not, we can probably make it work.” He said as he kneeled back down. “We’ll just need to stabilize your joints first before we put it on.”

We? Oh no no. This was not a ‘we’ activity. This was a, ‘leave me alone and let me do it’ activity.

Based on the looks they were giving each other I think they realized this as well. They did seem, worried, to say the least. I felt an unfamiliar feeling creeping up on me as the man let out a sigh. Why were they so concerned about me? It didn’t affect them one way or the other whether I lived or died.

“How about you show us where we can start?” The woman asked quietly, but I only pulled my legs up closer to my chest. “It hurts a lot, doesn’t it?”  
She had that right at least. It certainly wasn’t comfortable sitting like this. And being trapped in here with them didn’t make it any better. If I just let them help though, I might be okay.

“One time, when I was just a little girl, I broke my wrist. I was in a cast for weeks. I don’t think I could handle a brace for months like you. It must be pretty bad.”  
The look on my face must have said otherwise.

“Why do you have to wear it for so long? Is something else wrong?”  
“...I fell down the stairs...” I hardly had time to register the words coming out of my mouth as they did.

“Did you break something inside? Like a joint? Or a fastener?”

I nodded yes. The connector on the rotator cuff had snapped out. It still connected to the hinges, but at the wrong angle it just fell off. It was fine except for the pulling on everything else that was connected. Basically my ‘muscles’ were the only thing holding my foot to my leg. The bars didn’t connect anymore  
“It’s more like...the suspension on the sled? Like if the struts snapped in half.” The man said as he tried to confirm with me. “It’s a lot more challenging to fix than a broken bone.”

“Yikes, we broke the strut in the snow crawler before. That cost an arm and a leg to fix.” The woman added. “That’s horrible though, that you’ve been like this for so long.”

It wasn’t that long, only...ha, 8-ish months? I forget when I broke it, but it was before I’d come back to the arctic.

“It must be really scary out here by yourself.” The woman added out of nowhere. Or maybe it was supposed to come off as more of a question. “I hope this isn’t weird, but I was reading about you during the winter. There are a lot of academic papers about how your power supply challenged the status quo for roboticists.”  
That caught me off guard, and I probably blushed a little bit too. That almost sounded like a compliment. I knew I was supposed to be this experimental masterpiece, but those two words are rarely seen beside each other. Most ‘experts’ had expected me to fail the experiment royally, so the world was taken by storm when I became an overnight success story. But obviously, the prototype isn’t the same as the finished product. It was my data, sure. But the new technology and idea was being pushed without me attached to it. I was essentially pawned off cheaper than the final product of my creator’s other robot masters, and retrofitted with additions that I wasn’t used to before being shipped off to the freakin’ north pole.

“I think it’s amazing. You’re fully sustainable. That can’t be said about a lot of the other bots around these parts. I think it’s a big step towards what we’re committed to in our research too.” The woman praised once again. I felt myself untense a little bit at the compliments. I really hadn’t heard those things in a while.

There was a point when I was very new when I’d hear stuff like that daily. But once the initial reports were in, I was old news.

“...thank you.” I managed to get out as I pulled my legs up a bit closer to my chest.

“I bet you haven’t heard that in a while, huh.” The man said as he stretched a bit and rearranged himself to sit criss cross apple sauce. “Do you really work out here all by yourself?”

I nodded yes. Even thought I wouldn’t exactly call what I was doing work. More like, experimenting. The only difference between fucking around and science was writing it down.

“You must get lonely.”

I sighed. Sure, it was a bit lonely some nights. But most of the time it was fine. I had my new linemates on speed dial all the time now, and I could always just leave if I wanted to. Nobody was making me stay.

“Do you think we could look at your leg now. You know we won’t hurt you.” The woman asked again in a softer tone.

I guess I didn’t have much other choice now. I nodded with a hint of defeat as the man slowly picked up the supplies he’d brough. I have to admit though, I wasn’t feeling as nervous as I was when I got here. For not working with a lot of robots they sure knew how to calm me down.

The woman took more of a comforting roll as the man checked out my ankle. Now that he could see exactly what had snapped I think he understood why I was in so much pain. He understood that I desperately needed a more permanent solution, but he just didn’t know where to start. The woman on the other hand was trying to contain her nirvana. I could tell she’d never been up close and personal with a bot before, but that didn’t surprise me. A lot of people still didn’t really understand robots? At least, they didn’t get to interact with robots this closely. She was just fascinated by everything though.

“Do you want me to try and hook the socket back in? Or do you want to do that yourself?” The man asked as he gently rubbed my leg.

“...I’ll armour down.” It was probably easier for him to do it. He could see it better anyways.

I armoured down to my Wily fortress casual outfit, which was of course not at all appropriate for the weather conditions up here. But I at least had shorts on so he could see all of my leg joints, wires, and rods.

“Do you want something to bite down on? It might hurt.” The woman asked worriedly.

I quickly reached for my survival repair kit and pulled out a swathe of cloth. In actuality this was my first pillowcase from home. Sometimes it’s nice to carry a memento. I folded it a few times and shoved it in my mouth. At least this way I wouldn’t break any teeth.

The man was trying to be gentle; he wasn’t trying to make things worse. But I knew it was going to hurt before he even touched my ankle. I screamed, which I don’t think the others were prepared for. I instinctively tried to grab at my leg for comfort, but the woman was quick to pull me into a tight hug. She pressed my face against her shoulder securely, and she was careful to pull my arms in against my chest. The man slid the compression sock on next, carefully pulling the heel so everything lined up properly. The compression alone already made me feel so much better, and they could probably tell immediately as I relaxed.  
“That’s a bit better now, isn’t it?” The woman said as she carefully ran her fingers through my hair.

I caught myself in a content sigh as I closed my eyes. I might have already had my nap, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t exhausted still. Her gentle teasing through my hair wasn’t helping either.

“We just need to fit the brace on, and then we’ll let you rest. Okay?”  
I nodded quietly as I felt the man lift my leg up a bit to slide the brace underneath. It was secure, and it didn’t feel like it was about to fall off at any give second. I looked down at him as I watched him tighten the leg straps. He was also examining all of the puncture holes in my leg from my makeshift brace. He looked a little worried in all honesty.

“Maybe later we can try to patch up some of these spots. But you’re done for now. I think it’s time for a nap.”

I nodded in agreement. The woman helped me sit up again so I could inspect the new casing on my leg. It felt so much better to be in a brace again. It felt a lot more secure. I’d gotten so used to it being there that it almost felt like it was a part of my armour.

“Do you want to come and lie down inside? It’s not as cold in the bunky.” The woman asked as she brushed some of the grime off of me from the garage floor.  
I was perfectly fine sleeping here, but maybe inside would be better. I nodded as the two of them helped me back up to my feet. It felt different, but I was almost back to normal.

The wave of weird deja-vu hit me fast as I remembered one night in particular. It was my fourth or fifth night in the Wily fortress after being reprogrammed, but before the war. Shade had his arm around my chest with one of my arms thrown up over his shoulder as we stumbled back to the lab. I remembered seeing Wily’s scolding face as we both stumbled in “drunk”. Whatever the older bots had given us was the real deal. But he helped is both snuggle up in one of the sleeping pods and tucked us in. He’d sat at the edge of the pod for a while and I remember seeing, remorse. He looked so tired and worn out. He’d ran his hands through my hair for a few minutes and along my cheek before I finally fell asleep. I remember thinking that he would be the only human I could ever trust from here on out.

But now, as I was being escorted to the bunky and being tucked into a warm bed I could feel some of the Wily coding creeping back in. It said run, this is a trap. I remembered the same bit of code had run before in January. I was just as anxious now, even though I really shouldn’t have been. These people were helping, and they seemed like they were genuinely concerned. At least the code wasn’t forcing me to act. Maybe if I asked Wily he could tone it down a bit? But for right now, I was focused on this powernap and the warmth from the woodstove at the foot of the bed. It didn’t take long before I was soundly asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think so far ^^


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sleepy Time

I woke to a bang. My face hit the cold floor as hands struggled to get a hold of me. I tried to move my hands to push myself up, figuring I’d just rolled out of bed or something, but I quickly found that my hands were tied behind my back. My legs were strapped tightly together too. I felt myself starting to panic.  
I tried looking around the room but everything seemed blurry...Even the people in the room were hard to make out. All I could tell was that I was being dragged along the floor, and eventually that surface turned to thin ice.

I think I was having a flashback.

At least, that’s what the corny sitcoms that Spring watches would call this? I think? Either that or a nightmare. And frankly, in this particular situation I found myself leaning towards nightmare.

I could hear the people’s harassing tones, but I don’t remember what they actually said. I just remember them tying a chain around my legs so they could pull me back up later.  
I tried to scream, I tried to plead for my life for the second time. My argument fell on deaf ears.

I heard the shattering of the ice below me as I was thrown away from the safety of solid ice. The water was HORRIBLE. Cold and dark. It seeped through my systems faster than I had expected. I was of course equipped to deal with a situation like this in an emergency, but only if I could get out of the water in a few minutes. The people who did this to me knew that just as well as I did.

I fought for three and a half minutes, and I managed to wiggle one of my arms out from behind my back, but by then I knew it was already too late. I was getting all kinds of warning messages for emergency shutdown procedures and I knew their was no saving myself now. Frozen here now in my memory I looked around slowly. The soft blue-pink light from the sunrise painted the ice above me, the deep blue ocean below me held all kinds of horrors. I could picture the people back on shore celebrating having finally gotten rid of me.

I guess I never really understood why they wanted me gone so bad. I still couldn’t imagine why. I did everything to try and live up to their expectations. Sometimes your best isn’t good enough.

My systems started to blink out one by one as the sun climbed higher into the afternoon sun. I was completely immobile by then. My fluid compartments had shut as a precursor measure, but most of them were frozen solid by now. It was dark before I finally let my conscience give out. I don’t know how I held out for so long either, by all measures I should have been dead long before that point. Maybe the hope of someone changing their mind was enough to force my systems to stretch for so long.

...

The next thought I had was waking up with a shake. My whole body felt like it was recoiling as parts started de-icing. I was hooked up to all kinds of cables, and I must have had every heating pack and hot water bottle that Wily owned pinned against my side.

I remember having a not so fun panic attack in the lab while I was tied down and only partially unthawed. Wily looked relieved that I was actually alive still, by some miracle, but also sympathetic in a way that I’d never really seen before. No one had ever felt bad for me, it was a weird sentiment to get too attached to a prototype. Wily was worried though.  
He knew what those people did to me, in fact he knew in detail what they did to me. They didn’t think not to completely incriminate themselves in front of him. I guess they weren’t expecting him to retaliate. Wily understood that after that type of trauma I wouldn’t be the same. He called me a “people pleaser” a few times, and it really sank in for me that it wasn’t necessarily a good nickname. He wasn’t mean about it though, but he did really help me see that the *second* you don’t seem pleasing anymore to a person you’re as good as scrap.

He said he’d always be happy to have me, and that he’d do his best to keep me from getting hurt like that again. He said he wanted a better world for robots. One where robots were appreciated for their work and their individuality. I understood why my line all felt so compelled to break away from their old lives. It’s hard. Knowing you’re trying your best but nobody takes notice. Or worse, you don’t get the credit for any of the work your do. You’re no better than a tool at the end of the day.

Wily sat with me for hours as I faded in and out of functioning. He was always their when I choked my way back to life as things thawed apart. I remembered how bad he was sweating in the lab because he had the temperature set so high. But every time I woke up he was just as happy to see me.

For a while I was stuck in that “people pleaser” state. I wanted nothing more than to make him proud, and make him smile. It felt like I was finally doing something right for a while...until I wasn’t.

I remember being unceremoniously brought back to the secret island hideout after I’d failed to enact Wily’s grand plan. I was strapped down to a table with the rest of my line mates, examined, torn apart, modified, and repaired. Wily was exhausted, and I rarely saw him in any mood other than completely pissed off.  
But then, one day I woke up in a soft bed all by myself in a clean and otherwise fairly empty bedroom. There were a few things folded and stacked on a nearby shelf, including some mementos from my creator, but other than that it was empty. A blank slate. A fresh start.

I might have lost the battle, but not the war. I was on the free side now. I could do whatever I wanted. Nobody had any grand expectations of me. And that made me terrified.  
Wily still had one expectation of me, I guess. On the large scale it was ‘do what you’ve always wanted to do’ but on the even bigger scale it was, ‘do something that will piss people like your old employers off’. Prove them wrong was the exact phrase if I remember correctly. Live life as close to humanly possible. I’d decided a few months ago that that advice would turn into my almost eight-month long expedition to gather my own data to publish my own study. I wanted the credit for the research I did, I wanted to be recognized for what I could actually do.

I wanted to be respected, more than anything in the world. I was going to make them respect me, or in the very least witness me as I did things that would be impossible for a robot under a human’s reign. I could do this...I really believed I could do this, and now look at where I was...

..................

We’d tucked Freeze into one of the beds beside the woodstove in the bunky. I volunteered to do some deskwork today so I could keep an eye on him while he rested up. He’d been through a lot in the last few hours, I couldn’t imagine what kind of stress he was under.

I knew it must be hard for him to look for help, let alone accept help from strangers. Not even just strangers! Strange people! This was the second time we’d helped him and he seemed just as nervous and anxious as the last. I was surprised he actually let us near him. The plan before we knew what was happening was to just let him calm down and go to sleep again so we could try to look him over and see if we could do anything. That went out the window the second we got talking to him though.

I looked up from my papers as he kicked the blankets off quickly. He seemed restless as he rolled onto his back, still asleep. We’d tried to zip him into one of the thick frontier sleeping bags but he’d struggles and wiggles his way out of the cocoon pretty quickly. I guess he didn’t like being cooped up.

I put my papers down neatly and made my way back over to the bed. I picked up the crumpled blanket at the bottom of the bed and softly tucked it back in just above his waist. I was about to sit down again when I heard shuffling, only to look back and see the blanket was now on the floor. Maybe it was just blankets in general. I picked the blanket up and folded it messily. I brought it back to the desk and plopped it down by the leg of my chair. With a few clicks I’d opened up my computers browser and waited for the search engine to load.

‘First night with robot master’

I waited for the slow ass connection, which somehow seemed even slower today. Naturally, the first article to pop up was from Dr. T. Light. I clicked on the pdf and once again waited a ridiculous amount of time for the bloody thing to open. I peeked back at Freeze but he seemed to be a lot more content now. He looked like he was chewing on the edge of the pillow though, which was probably not great for him.

By the time the document actually loaded I could tell it wasn’t going to be that useful for our, situation. Most of the advice was ‘be familiar with robot behaviour beforehand’ and ‘talk to your doctor’. I sighed, but none the less I continued skimming down the article.

I stopped as Freeze made a little whining sound as he rearranged himself yet again. He looked like he was trying to grab at the edge of the bed for comfort. No problem, my third girlfriend did the same thing. I went to retrieve another pillow off of the couch in the common area. I carefully tucked it under his arm and pushed it up against his chest. Just as I’d suspected, he grabbed onto the pillow like a koala bear and settled back down almost immediately.

I knew he must be scared being in an unfamiliar place, but maybe that was also leading to a lot of anxiety. The two kind of went hand in hand. I returned to my document and hit control+f. In the search bar I typed ‘anxi’ to try and get some results on anxiety and anxious bots, and how to calm them down. Unfortunately again, most of the phrases that came up included “are you feeling anxious about your first day with a robot master?”, and “it’s normal to feel a little anxious around robots.” There was one part towards the very bottom, “your new robot master will be anxious to get to work!”

Bah, garbage.

I went back to the search engine. ‘Can robot masters develop anxiety’ Search. Nothing really great. The same article was the fourth result.

I turned to my next best option, the academic archive for the university. I should be able to find something a little move scientific than a feel-good article.

‘Robot master’ ‘Anxiety’ Search.  
“Robots helping patients with Anxiety”  
“Are robots replacing the workforce?”  
“Anxious around robots: Feeling insecure in your workplace.”

Wow, that first one sounded great, how did we go downhill so fast.

It took a few scrolls and a few quick abstract reads before I found anything that looked even remotely useful. “Do robot masters experience stress the same as humans.” It looked promising, and the name seemed familiar. Dr. P. Astil. I clicked hopefully on the pdf.

“Stress and restlessness are universal emotions in both humans and robots. However, the threshold of human and robots’ emotions is layered and complex.” Oh boy, here we go. I skipped down. “Most robot master are ‘stress tested’ before they are certified for work. This is mainly due to the circumstances they work in. This test can vary job to job. For example, a robot master in a dangerous climate such as extreme heat might have a higher stress limit than a robot that works in a fairly average climate. However, it is the context of the job they preform that defines how high or how low their stress capacity is. The capacity of a robot master designed to actively deal with extreme weather phenomena is significantly higher than a robot master meant to work construction jobs.” That made sense so far. I guess Freeze might be predisposed to fall into the higher end of that category. He worked in extreme temperatures and had a somewhat unpredictable work environment. Probably not as high as a weather bot, but still fairly high. “These stress levels are meant to protect robot masters from the everyday hazards of their work. It might seem strange to see robot masters completely calm or comfortable in the most drastic of landscapes, such as the interiors or volcanoes or alone of the frozen tundra but they are most comfortable in these setting.” Got it. Freeze likes being here, probably. Scrolling down.

“Robot masters can reach a proverbial breaking point if they become overwhelmed. This typically occurs in robots that have experienced conditions outside of their expected norms. However, that doesn’t exclude robots who are within their normal duties but also subjected to additional stressors.” Well, I guess being a Wily bot now was a little outside of Freeze’s ‘expected norms’. “Robots who are forced out of their comfort zone and subjected to actions they would otherwise have no desire for often experience a type of dysphoria, or a constant state of unease while subjected to an action. Dysphoria is likely to persist if a robot master has trouble returning to their expected norms, or if their capacity for stress has been exceeded for extended periods of time. Anxiety can occur in robots whose stress capacity had been exceeded by sudden and often violent actions that occur directed towards the robot master. Cases of mild anxiety are common in robots with lower stress capacity levels. Anxiety in robots with higher stress capacity can be extremely difficult to manage and often persists for longer at a much higher intensity. For example, a robot master on a construction site might experience a few close calls; this may cause them some discomfort and stress around particular actions. These are manageable cases for this type of robot master, and they may return to their normal state in hours. A robot master who is constantly exposed to dangerous conditions may experience something catastrophic, and it may be out of their control, or it may have been something they could have prevented. A drastic example might be witnessing an innocent person die. Much like any human, a robot master can easily shift blame to themselves for such outcomes even if it was out of their control. Another example might be excessive violence, either carried out by the robot master or directed towards the robot master. Robot masters who have or are working for malevolent causes are often at rise for incredibly high levels of anxiety and often suffer from trauma.”

Dr. P. Astil seemed to know a lot about stress in robots, and at least to me he seemed to be talking about ex-wily bots towards the end. I switch back to my regular search engine and typed in his name. It took a minute before I connected the dots. Dr. Astil was the creator of Plantman, who was participating in the international robot fighting competitions before Dr. Wily abducted him. Plant was back in Brazil now, but I guess he must have gone through a lot to get back to work as normal.  
Blizzard was swept up in that whole attack too! Even better, he was working up here this summer! Maybe I could try and get in touch with him to see if he has any advice for dealing with post-Wily anxiety. Of course, that would mean I’d have to let him in on our little secret...I looked back at Freeze again. He looked like he’d finally settled back down to sleep after tossing and turning.

I wanted to help Freeze, I just KNEW he needed it! I knew he deserved a second chance! He was so quiet and sweet, and he was out here all by himself with a broken ankle! He might be a bit of a thief, and a big-time money launderer, but he still needed help.

I stopped for a moment to look back at Dr. Astil’s contact information. I huffed, opening up my e-mail account as I went back to the article. I might as well read up a bit more so I can write a more articulate note. Maybe then I’ll sound like I know what I’m talking about when I mention robot masters and stress expectations.


	5. Chapter 5

The same sense of panic from my nightmare washed over me as I woke up in a strange little cabin. It took me a while to backtrack and remember the events from this morning. I looked around the cozy bunk house and spotted the woman sat at a computer not to far away. She seemed busy. I quietly lied back down and looked down at my newly ‘repaired’ leg. Maybe it was time to get Wily to fix me up proper. 

I didn’t want to be a hastle, but things were going to get a lot worse if I didn’t do something about it soon. I’m sure I could launder up the money now that I’d learned how to do it discreetly. 

The notification from the arctic groupchat pinged in the back of my mind. I brought it up and was greeted by a picture from Frost. 

Frost: *Check it out. Actual polar bears.*   
The picture popped up of a mother bear with one cub walking somewhere relatively close to his basecamp. I could see a building off in the distance, but based on the tone Frost wasn’t too worried. 

Blizzard: *Super cute!*  
Tundra: *Aww! I wish the satellite was working so I could come take pictures!*

Tundra was crazy about photography. I usually saw pictures from him of all sorts of things. Foxes, polar bears, seals, orcas, you name it. He just had a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

I found myself slipping into the fantasy of actually having friends. My linemates didn’t count, we were forced together. But I could really see myself shyly talking to these other, more capable ice bots. I could also picture myself getting my shit beat in by these other bots though for even daring to talk to them. 

I sighed audibly. Which was much louder than I’d intended. The woman at the desk quickly turned around and smiled seeing that I was awake now. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked quietly, clearly trying to contain some excitement still. 

“...better.” I paused and looked around the room meekly trying to avoid eye contact. “Thank you...you didn’t have to do any of this for me.”

“Pssh! Don’t say that. What were we supposed to do? Just leave you out there so you could get even worse?” She said as she got up and invited herself to sit on the edge of the bed.

I avoided eye contact desperately as she looked back at me. I sat up and pulled myself away just a little bit. The alarm bells were still ringing in the back of my mind that something was wrong. That this was all going to be some clever ruse to trap me. But I’d quelled most of those thoughts to the back of my mind. The woman at least seemed to notice that she was once again pressing some boundaries for me. 

“Sorry, I know you don’t like being close.” She said as she got up and instead pulled up the chair from the desk to sit at. She seemed just as worried when I didn’t really relax again. “Someone really did a number on you, didn’t they.” She said softly, just barely audible.

I nodded. I guess it was pretty obvious. I knew she was implying Wily, maybe for now it was best that she believed that. 

“We aren’t going to hurt you. We aren’t going to tell anyone else where you are.” She promised. 

“...I know. It’s just...hard.” I sighed as I lied back down facing the ceiling. 

“Do you want to talk about it? It doesn’t have to be right now, but we’re always going to be here for you.” She reassured. 

I shook my head no. I shouldn’t be talking to them in the first place. I really didn’t want to accidentally get these people in trouble for like, harbouring a Wily bot or something stupid like that. 

“That’s okay, it takes time. I think you’re already doing great. You should be feeling a lot better too now that you’ve got a little more leg support back.”

I looked down at the fresh brace around my ankle. Honestly, I’d never really felt this pampered in my life.

“I can bring you a new brace once the global teleport network is fixed. It went out yesterday.”

“Oh, that’s probably why our internet is way worse than usual.” The woman laughed a bit. “That would be much appreciated though. Can’t be running around the Arctic without a full first aid kit.” 

I heard the group message ping again in the back of my mind.

Chill:*Hey, did anyone else see this last night?*

He’d sent a picture of a computer screen with what looked to be an encrypted message. God, I hope that wasn’t me by accident. It couldn’t be. 

Well, it could be. But it should have sent the message to the Wily gang. It was probably when I was trying to nail my temporary brace into my leg and poking all those holes. I could picture my systems not being thrilled with an ‘attack’ like that, and probably calling for help.

Blizzard:*What is that?*  
Chill:*I think it was supposed to be a distress signal? It’s hard to tell though. I was hoping one of you might be able to help.*

At least they were still confused by it. That at least meant they couldn’t find me. I turned the notifications off for a while. 

The woman had been watching me protectively as I’d check my mail. She still seemed just in awe to even be this close to me. I don’t think she ever expected to be this close with a robot. 

“Have you...” I stopped, I didn’t want to sound rude. 

“It’s okay, you can ask me anything.” She smiled warmly.

“Okay. Have you ever worked with robots before?”

“Never, only the one the digs the core samples from the ice. But by your standards that thing is ancient.” She laughed a bit. “Oh geez, is it really that obvious.”

I nodded, but she didn’t seem too bothered. She got up from her chair and stretched. 

“Ah, well. I guess I’d just never been given the opportunity to really be around robots much. Robots like you were only coming into popularity, what, 10-15 years ago? I was finishing my second degree by then. The only robots I saw before I came up here were the ones doing road construction on my street on my way to the airport. We didn’t see much of any robot action until Iceman was up here for his trial run. Even then nobody really got to see him. It took a long time before Blizzard was even on everyone’s radar.” She explained in detail as I watched her grab a kettle and place it on the stove. 

“Well, you should know best. Machines and cold weather sometimes don’t mix very well.” 

“Oh boy! I swear. Our first year on the old site everything broke! The cheap as thermometers they sent us with burst apart like some kind of cartoon!” 

“That sounds about right.” I found myself smirking at the image. 

I was interrupted again as another messages dinged in the back on my mind. But this time it wasn’t on the group chat. I opened it cautiously as the woman talked in the background. 

Unknown Contact: allow? Y/N  
Y  
Unknown:*I hope this actually works. We received your distress call. Please answer.*

Uh oh. Looks like they decoded my message. I flipped back through the old messages in the group chat. 

Frost:*That’s definitely a distress signal. It’s too scripted to be anything else.*  
Chill:*Do you know who it’s from? It’s not anyone in our contacts?*  
Frost:*Maybe it’s that Wily bot that’s been up here.*

Blizzard:*I hope not. We have no idea where he is!*  
Chill:*Oh maybe. That would make sense why it’s all encrypted and junk.*  
Blizzard:*But what if he’s actually hurt?! He probably can’t teleport right now either?*  
Frost:*Well, if it isn’t a trick...*  
Chill:*Frost...give him some credit. You were the one that said we shouldn’t have to worry about him anyways.”  
Frost:*I know. But I know him too. He wouldn’t just send a message like this. Showing that he’s vulnerable.*  
Blizzard:*So maybe he’s really hurt! Can you still call him?*  
Frost:*What? No way.*  
Chill:*He’s probably really hurt! Just call him and see if it was him!*  
Chill:*Frost?*  
Chill:*Frost are you texting him!?*

That brought me back up to date. 

I flicked back to my private messages. I guess this was Frost then. I quickly typed back to him.

Freeze:*Sorry. I took care of it.*

I sent the message off and tuned back in to the woman’s conversation. Which had grown fairly one-sides by now. I faked a yawn in the hopes that she would change the subject. 

“I hope you aren’t still tired. You just slept for two hours!”

“Two hours! That’s it?” It felt like I’d been here all day. 

“Trust me, you needed the power nap. You practically hit the bed and passed out.” I watched her pour a cup of something from the kettle. “Sorry I should have offered. Can you even drink like, people stuff?”

“I can. As long as it’s not like, milk. I drink a lot of water when I’m not up here to help regular my temperature.” I said as she poured a second cup and brought it too the bedside. She turned back and went back to her computer. 

I looked back to my messages.  
Frost:*You took care of it? Are you alright?*

I looked down at my legs to snap a quick picture before sending it his way. Hopefully he would notice how new the brace was compared the the one he’d seen me in before. 

Frost:*Did you break it again?*  
Freeze:*Yeah, but I’ll be okay.*  
Frost:*Are you at your little campsite? I can bring some things?*  
Freeze:*No, you don’t have to do anything for me. It’s okay.*

I waited for another response, but it looked like Frost had jumped over to the group chat for some advice. 

Frost:*He broke his ankle. What do I do?*  
He sent the picture along with the text.   
Blizzard:*Go help him!! Where is he?*  
Frost:*I don’t know! I know he has a little campsite by himself but it looks like he’s in a building?*  
Blizzard:*Ask him where he is!*  
Frost:*I already did! He said I didn’t have to do anything for him!*

Huh, maybe Frost was a lot softer than I thought. I knew I would be doing the exact same think if I was in his place though, so I couldn’t judge. 

Chill:*It looks like he got some help at least. Now I feel bad for not seeing the message sooner :(*  
Blizzard:*Yep, looks like my message notifications are staying on from now on.*  
Frost:*That’s not your fault. You wouldn’t have gotten it anyways, it was encrypted.*  
Chill:*But still! It’s been hours!*  
Frost:*He’s resourceful. He knows how to take care of himself. I’m sure he would have been fine either way.*

I turned the group chat off as I grabbed the cup off of the nightstand. Tea. It smelled a lot nicer than the stuff Wily usually had though. Not that my sense of smell or taste was really great to begin with, but I could pick up hints of vanilla. I took a sip slowly to savour the flavour. It tasted just as good as it smelled. 

I put the cup back down and curled back up under the bedsheets. I checked the local network signal for teleportation but it was still out of service. Maybe I could stay around the base here until the signal was cleared again. I didn’t want to have another accident. I’d rather just teleport home and get repaired, but that obviously wasn’t happening. 

Frost:*Can you see the local Arctic group chat?*

Hmmm, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to answer that. I guess there was no real benefit to hiding it. 

Freeze:*I can, but I don’t really read it. I don’t want to be nosy.*  
Frost:*Can you tell the other two that you’re alright? They’re really worried.*

I quickly flipped back over to the group chat. 

Blizzard:*Did his ankle get fixed? Or did he just get it wrapped up?*  
Frost:*It’s probably only wrapped. I don’t think anyone around here has the supplies or the know how to actually fix him.*  
Blizzard:*Is he going to be okay then?! Is it serious?*  
Frost:*I don’t know! He didn’t sound like it was serious*   
Chill:*Well of course not! He doesn’t want you to worry about him!*  
Frost:*Stop! Now you’re making me worried again!*  
Blizzard:*Text him and tell him to join the group chat! Then we can hear it from him!*  
Frost:*...I’m pretty sure he can just see this whenever he wants. This isn’t like, private.*  
Blizzard:*WHAT!! I THOUGHT IT WAS!?*  
Chill:*No, that’s the other chat that has Ice and Cold too. Cause it’s long distance.*  
Blizzard:*ANYWAYS*  
Blizzard:*Mr. Wily bot please say you’re okay.   
...  
Chill:*His name’s Freeze, right?*  
Frost:*Yeah*  
Chill:*Freeze it’s okay. Please let us know you’re okay. We’re worried.*

I remembered reading an article a few months ago about how certain types of robot masters all had similar personality traits. Fire bots usually had a short temper. Nature bots were typically laid back and easy going. But the author had claimed that all ice type bots were nervous. And yeah, I knew I was pretty skittish and generally afraid of anything that was new and strange, but I’d never really pictured these bots as having the same kind of uneasy nervousness. They had never really seemed worried or concerned when they were talking to each other. They were never scared of anything, but maybe that was just because they hadn’t been taught to be afraid of anything. 

I started slowly typing in the text box as I felt my cheeks grow hotter. I triple checked the spelling and the tone before I was happy. I hit send.

Freeze:*I’m okay, thank you for your concern.*

I was practically shaking as I saw the typing bubbles blink to life at the bottom of the conversation. 

Blizzard: *OH MY GOSH! Are you sure you’re okay!!*  
Chill: *What happened?! Is there anything we can do to help?*  
Blizzard: *Are you safe? Do you need anything?!*  
Chill: *Where are you! Are you somewhere safe?*

I stifled a laugh as the two bots fretted over me. 

Freeze: *I’ll live. Thank you for checking in with me.*  
Blizzard: *You aren’t just saying that, right? Because us robots have to look out for each other!*  
Frost: *Differences aside Freeze. Are you sure you’ll be okay?*  
Freeze: *I’ve got someone here looking out for me. I’m okay.*  
Chill: *You better not be lying!*  
Freeze: *I’m not!*  
Frost: *Good! We’re just glad you’re okay.*  
Blizzard: *Yeah! Good! If you even need anything though don’t hesitate to ask.*  
Freeze: *Thank you. That means a lot to me.*  
Chill: *Ey! Don’t mention it!*  
Blizzard: *Yeah! I think it’s great that you’re out here trying to get back to normal. Frost told us what happened to you. It’s not fair.*  
Chill: *Agreed. You didn’t do anything wrong, you deserve a normal life.*  
Freeze: *Thanks guys, that means a lot.*  
Chill: *I’m serious! I’m interested to see the work you’ve been doing!*  
Freeze: *Maybe once I get it all refined I’ll send the manuscript over. There’s some real interesting stuff!*  
Blizzard: *Me too please! I’m sure you’ve been working super hard!*  
Freeze: *It’s under appreciated work, but someone’s gotta do it!*

This felt, great. I’d felt a smile sneak past my lips as the others complimented my work. This was scary, of course. The terrifying ordeal of being known. And of course the off chance that they could get in trouble for talking to me, but actually having others to talk to was nice. Especially if they were excited to hear about the work I was doing.

I sat up slowly and swung my legs off the side of the bed. I stretch, feeling the pumps and pistols in my arms and back heat up. I caught the woman’s attention, she looked a bit, sad.

“Going so soon?” 

“No...I just want to take a walk. Unless you want me to go. I don’t want to overstay-“ she cut me off.

“No no! You can stay as long as you need! We don’t have much really to offer, other than a roof over your head. But I think you’d get a better rest here than out by yourself.”

I smiled as my feet hit the floor. I took care not to move too fast, I didn’t want anything popping out of place. I hadn’t felt this sturdy in a while. It felt almost as good as new.

“Thank you. I don’t know how I’m going to repay you this time.”

“Trust me! You’re already done more than enough for us.” Her smile was warm.

“It’s the least I could do.”


	6. Chapter 6

...........

I should have said something before I left, but there was really nothing I could say that would express just how grateful I was. I had spent a long three days at the arctic site resting and combing through my research data, and I got to know the crew a little bit better. For the most part though I just stayed around the site and tried not to get in the way. A lot of the people still seemed nervous around me, which was understandable, but I was still far more scared of them than they were of me. I’d seen how fast people can change their minds about how welcoming they should be. 

I’d gotten a call from Star, more an apology for taking so long to get the Wily satellite up and running. I was used to pinging off an encrypted satellite up here in the north for my transportation, and no one really realized I’d be stuck up here until Shade tried to call me and couldn’t get through. I’d rushed home, eager to get my leg set back properly, but I’d forgotten to say goodbye. I wasn’t used to people up in the north really caring about me and what I was doing. 

I sat Wily down and demended that he fix my leg. Demanded might be a strong word, more like, very persuasively asked. Wily looked terrified at the condition I was in when I got home. To his credit, he admitted he thought he’d already fixed my leg. He had it checked off on a to-do list that was a few metres long. I couldn’t blame him, there was a lot to keep track of around here, I could see how I could have gotten swept to the side by accident. 

Wily spent a few days pulling everything from my knee down. A lot of my supports had started to bow with the developing limp so he thought it would be better to just replace the whole thing. 

I started to tell him about my research up in the arctic and I was surprised to see how invested he was. By the end of my few days of surgery I had even more questions for my research and Wily had even pointed out some signal factors that I’d overlooked. He was proud to see the research I was doing by myself, and even more thrilled to hear about the idea of self publishing my findings. He gave me a fatherly clap on the shoulder and ensured me that I’d have his support through the whole process. 

I was planning to head back up north in the days after my recovery, but plans change quickly around the fortress. Wily had caught wind that Light was being forced to retire some of his robot masters. This infuriated him. Robots shouldn’t just be tools that can be thrown away when they stop being useful. We’d all spent the last few days helping the Lightbots plan a secret revolution. 

I was surprised actually to hear that Tornadoman had approached Wily first to see if he could help save his line. Of course Wily had agreed, but I wasn’t sure if he was also the one to persuade Tornado to wage their own attack against the city that was trying to regulate them. Since then we’d all been busy prepping battle stations and helping train the Light bots. They were all such amazing bots, and it was honestly kind of shocking for all us to hear about the conditions they worked in. Well, at least for the others it was a shock. 

“And then! You won’t believe this guy! I told him to get to shelter, because the coast guard had issued a hurricane watch! And he tried to run me over with his car!” Tornado recounted as we all enjoyed the evening sun on the Wily Fortress Island. 

“He hit you with his car?!” Magnet reiterated.

“Tried. He tried to. I guess he also didn’t listen when I said I was a trained extreme weather interruption robot.” Tornado shrugged playfully, with a grin that the rest of us were seeing for the first time. “I mean, I got in trouble for it. But I pawned it off as trying to prevent him from further harm.”

“Suits him right. People are so stupid. I can’t believe how many of them still think we don’t have any thoughts of our own.” Gyro said as he shifted around on the dock we had all tethered off onto. I was enjoying the dry land, but the other thought it would be nice to go for a swim. They knew I wasn’t incredibly fond of the water, but as long as it wasn’t too deep I didn’t mind. 

“You wouldn’t believe how stupid they are. Granted, there are a few that are like, well kinda like family to me...But I don’t see them putting up much of a fight to keep me around. There are complete strangers out there protesting for our lives, but the people we actually work with couldn’t care less.”

“Well, you’ll show them what they’re missing out on as soon as they realized how big they fucked up.”

I stayed quiet. Knowing better than to ruin the mood with a ‘not all people change’ statement. Or ‘some people will change for the worse.’ I think Tornado and his siblings all understood that there was a very slim chance they’d ever return to their ‘normal’ lives. But frankly, I think this life would be better for them. Maybe even doing something like me! Doing their own work, doing what they want to do. Without having to give away the credit. I understood exactly how frustrating it was to have all of the praise pointed towards your human counterparts, but Tornado *redirected hurricanes*. And didn’t get the credit. His human counterparts, the masterminds behind the scenes, were praised everytime he was successful. And everytime he wasn’t they could blame it on outdated equipment. 

“Well, we can only hope. If I’m not wanted though, I think I can make peace with the fact I’ll be deemed a no good Wily bot for the rest of my life.” Tornado laughed as he bumped into Gyro’s floaty. 

“Oh yeah? You’ll be okay sitting on the beach? Watching the sunset with friends?” Gyro joked back.

“I think I will. And hey, if I’m feeling like it I can still go and play around in the hurricanes and tornados. Maybe even trash around the bot they get to replace me. Show him how the job’s supposed to be done.”

“There ya go! That’s more like it.”

“Well, we’d be happy to welcome you to the family. This place just keeps growing and growing.” Quick laughed as he looked back up at the castle and assorted out buildings. 

He was right though. I felt like this place had already doubled in size since I got here. I guess when you adopt 8 new robots every few months you have to keep building though. Some of Frost’s line had decided to stay with us, some of them left, but now our ranks would be filling out again. The fortress was going to be busier than ever.

We spent a few more minutes out on the water before we decided to turn in for the night. We were approaching our deadlines for our station prep, so bedtime was strict. Especially when you were travelling half way around the world to set up lava processing plants for geothermal energy. I wasn’t really going to help set up, as much as I was just going to keep everyone else from overheating, but I didn’t mind it either way. 

I found my way back to my lines section of the fortress. I could hear Slash from a few doors down as he complained about the bath he was receiving. I guess that’s what happens when you accidentally fall in a soot pit. I stopped by the door and knocked lightly before letting myself in. 

I had to catch Slash as he made a b-line for the door. Shade looked less than pleased at the escape attempt, but now more than happy to see he had an extra pair of hands. 

“Good evening.” I managed to grit out as I hauled Slash’s ass back into the bathrooms.

“Not you too! Don’t let him take me alive!” Slash yelled as I delivered him back to the tub.

“Quit being so dramatic. It is just water, crybaby.” Shade scolded as he continued rubbing a damp cloth over Slash’s plating. 

“You won’t melt. You’re fine scaredy-cat.” I added as I leaned in and gave the unamused Slash a little kiss on the forehead. 

“So how was the evening with the line leaders?” Shade asked as he scrubbed roughly at a particularly stubborn spot.

“Fine. I think they would have preferred if you were there. Thanks again for pawning that off on me.” I hip checked him a bit before readjusting my grip on Slash. “I think Tornado is coming around though. He’s seen some shit.”

“Well, haven’t we all?” Shade laughed. “I’m glad he’s doing okay though. I just hope he can recover afterwords.”

Every one of us knew that things weren’t going to change. Even after this big uproar about robot independence and autonomy. Most people still saw us as just tools and nothing more. I guess that just made it all the better whenever we got to pull the sheets over their heads. 

The last robot anyone disrespects is a Wily bot. Because they don’t expect us to say anything back, or defend ourselves if things get really bad. They only do it because they think they can get away with it, and that nobody will call them out on it. So when you do actually react, and they aren’t expecting it...damn, that’s a powerful feeling. You know, one pull of any weapon. Even just a good whack in the head and they’d be dead. But it’s so much better to watch them crumble on their insecurities and for other people to call them out for being stupid publically. 

“Yeah well, hopefully they keep fighting for what they want. What we all want...Say, Shade?”

“Yes, love?”

“Have you ever thought about going back to work? Like, if the people actually treated you like an individual, and an important member of the team.”

“I think about it almost daily. As much as I love rangling and organizing you lot here, it’s not what I was meant to do.” He admits as he finally looks satisfied with Slash’s cleaning. He reaches for a towel.

“I thought as much.”

“Are you thinking about it?” He asked as he scoops Slash up in a towel, much to his displeasure. 

“Me? What? No! Just...hearing them talk about it so much made me curious. I don’t think I could ever really be comfortable enough with people to go back to work.”

“Well, you’ve already started taking baby steps.” Shade said, matter-o-factly. Like he always did when he knew he was right. 

I huffed a bit in defeat as I opened the door for him. We both watched as Slash wiggled out of his grip in a few swift and practiced motions before shaking off the remainder of the water all over the walls. Shade was mid eye roll already, but I knew he secretly didn’t mind. He loved seeing all of us just, living. Even if it meant there were a few messes to clean up along the way. I had so much respect for him, and everything he did for us. I’d follow him to the ends of the world if I had to. I heard the commotion in our common room as Slash let off another bout of shakes, and the sound of the rest of our line moaning. I quickly made my way to the doorway to find the evening game night’s interruption. 

These were the bots I was meant to spend the rest of my life with. We’d been through so much together. They were more of a family than anyone else ever was. Even if none of us had been brougt together by choice I think we all really needed a family who we could depend on. I wasn’t meant to be with people anymore, I was meant to be here. 

...

The delivery pilot had brought the crew a fun little gift with our typical delivery of food and supplies. Including a new first aid kit that included some basic robot repair tools. We had all come to the consensus that if Freeze was going to be around more we might as well be prepared for him. Who knows, he might even like us enough to help out if we put in the effort. He was clearly warming up to the team even if he was still flighty and unpredictable. 

But, the best part of this weeks delivery was a usb stick with new documentaries on them. Now, I don’t want to spread the rumor that all scientists are nerds for a good documentary, but this group of scientists absolutely were. I guess we may have dropped a few too many hints with the new first aid kit though, because most of the series were about robots. 

I wasn’t about to complain though. This was absolutely the kind of content I’d been looking for. And it wasn’t the fluff articles that Dr. Light wrote, they were all about real issues. 

The first documentary didn’t waste anytime getting to the point. There is a disproportionate number of robots who have been improperly discarded by their employers. Based on the recent news about the retiring Light bots I was sure this piece would be topical again soon. It wasn’t entirely focused on robot masters persay, but instead the thousands of lesser bots that had really minor injuries that were deemed cheaper to replace then to repair. 

The narrator covered the ‘correct’ way robots are supposed to be disposed of, but that also highlighted a number of other ethical issues, and continued on to claim that because of the complexity of the process it was often too labourous for employers who’d rather just throw a bot in the trash. It really highlighted the disconnect between peoples expectaions of machines and robot masters. For most people, there was no distinction. A robot was nothing more than a fancy computer. But there were thoughts and emotions in every robot now that would say otherwise.

The second documentary was a little more humble and focused around a group of online users who had all come together on a common mission. Highlight the subtle beauties of robots in the urban lifestyle. 

It all started as a college project of a film student who had seen a lot of robot activity near his job. He ended up using footage of some robots playing a game of baseball in a park near his house under the floodlights of the park. The video was submitted for review at a few robotics laboratories to try and determine what kind of bots were out at such a late hour, but the ‘official’ results were inconclusive. It wasn’t long before people started to put together that these were probably Wily bots who had gotten distracted out on a patrol or a mission. 

But the student become enthralled in tracking down these robots, mainly because he lived in a region that had never been affected by Wily bot activity before. It didn’t take long for people to start coming forward with videos and pictures of their own that very clearly depicted Wily bots just doing everyday things. Before long their was a detailed catalogue of Wily bots with and without armour so they could be identified quickly to keen watchers. 

One particular part caught my attention though. It discussed movement and activity patterns. Because the Wily bots were always in an area for a reason. As it turns out, the reason there had never been any activity in the area is because it was an area where Wily was doing business and receiving materials. So after the Wily bots were done with their jobs for the night, they’d often head out to their favourite places and relax. It was also interesting to note that as soon as a group got busted for dealing to Wily the robots would just leave. There was never any Wily inflicted conflict in those areas, and generally, those areas remained pretty quiet. It was almost a blessing to have a Wily line in your neighbourhood because you could count on there being no other disturbances. 

It was strange to see so many robot masters in one place at the same time though. Especially since I’d never had the opportunity to really work with robot masters before. And to see them without their armour was an even weirder feeling. We’d all seen Freeze without his armour on, but it felt strangely intimate to have this knowledge. I couldn’t ignore the fact that seeing all of the Wily bots doing regular human things made me happy. They certainly didn’t seem as dangerous as the media made them out to be. I knew Freeze wasn’t a pure-bred Wily bot, but he still had the coding for it. I wondered if he did stuff like this too. 

The last of the documentaries I watched was from a robotics film festival. It started with the disclaimer for frightening and disturbing scenes, and also an in memorium mention for the main focus of the film. 

It started with a news broadcast in a language I didn’t understand. But the narrator explained the timeline that changed her life forever.

The news aired around 11:20am, I remembered the day well. Wily had just sent out his second attack for world domination. The woman explained that she worked about an hour away from where one of the attacks was happening. She was ushered into a loading bay with about 20 other people, and she recounted 6 terrifying hours of being huddled around a radio while her co-workers prayed and called their families. She remembers hearing distant explosions at the water treatment plant, but eventually, nothing. Only the eerie silence of a group of people not certain whether they would live or die.

The news eventually came that Wily’s forces had been pushed back and she went back to her home, closer to the site of the massacre. She used the word massacre, even though no humans were killed. In fact, the local authorities reported a generally careful and tender robot master ordering all of the humans out of the plant far in advance to the actual announcement of Wily’s attack. She was refering to the robotic carnage left over after the fight. The water filtration system was largely undamaged, but at the expense of a large structural portion of the building that was broken off into the water. 

She ended up volunteering to help with the clean up of hundreds of robot husks around the site, and this is also where she met the organizers of a small robot relief group. While the group was cleaning up what remained of the wreckage, they happened upon a robot master. 

An aquatic robot master, with ruined green armour and a cracked glass mask was shown curled up underneath a shelf of debris. His nervous blue eyes searched the camera lense frantically before pulling away. After much coaxing, he was eventually pulled out of his hiding place, but his damage was much more severe than it appeared. He was covered in deep gashed, one of his legs looked to be on the verge of falling off, and he was just about ready to tip over and pass out. 

Based on the reports from the workers before this was very likely a Wily bot, but he couldn’t be left behind with the rest of the wreckage. The crew scooped him up into one of their vans and escorted him out of the site unnoticed by the growing media presence. 

The initial woman took almost full responsibility for the bot while he was recovering. She was in charge of seeking out roboticists who were willing to volunteer and help fix some of the damage on this bot. She at one point drove 7 hours with him to see a student who had been studying specifically in aquatic robots just to see if the bot would be able to operate in the water again. 

This all took place in a matter of weeks.

It took two weeks to get this bot back to almost full function. But in the downtime of those two weeks their was no shortage of pictures taken by the woman of the bot. Sleeping, smiling, laughing. Even in his dilapidated state he was still able to take in his surroundings and recognize that this woman and all of the other people along the way weren’t going to hurt him. He always looked so, happy. Happy to be alive, and happy to be cared about. 

But as those two weeks of work and rehabilitation passed, he was gone. She described it like coming home after a family member had died. It still feels like they should be there, but suddenly everything is different. And it hurts. It hurt a lot. She reiterated the thought that she’d expected something like this to happen, but it still felt horrible. 

She described the next few weeks as, weird, to say the least. She was working full time as a representative for the relief group now. She toured to give a speech on robot safety and rehabilitation in the capitol city, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of how empty her life was.

Then one day, early in the morning, she heard her porch door slide open quietly. There he was, looking as good as ever. 

She was adamant about not giving away any of his personal details, but he had wanted to help her out since she’d worked so hard to help him. She once again didn’t want to go into detail about what exactly happened between the two of them, but she called him the sweetest and kindest robot she’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. If she had the time she could have fawned over him for hours. Just knowing him changed her life. At one point she described him like a guardian angel. 

Then the screen went dark, the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor was the only thing that could be heard. A voice over explained that during the filming of the short film the woman had been hit by a transport truck one morning while on her way to record. The voice over included some shaky phone camera footage of a hospital room with two occupants. One, the woman, and two, the green haired bot sat in a chair beside her bed. His arms and head were rested on the side of the bed while the woman gently rubbed his cheek. My heart clenched even imagining the kind of pain both of them must be in. I was tearing up towards the end. 

A few hours later she passed away.

Her family planned an outdoor service, and suddenly memories came flooding back to me. I remembered seeing her funeral, or at least hearing about it in the news. Because literally hundreds of robots showed up, and nobody had an answer as to why. Now it all made sense. Once again, the familiar shaky camera footage shower eight young men dressed in black perched just out of view of the rest of the procession. While the rest of the lesser robots were all settling in the familiar bot had snuck up to a woman in the front row and slid her a bouquet of flowers and a small box. 

The film ended with a short word about the woman and her accomplishment, and a beautiful thank you letter to the Wily bot for being an amazing friend. 

This, of course, had the whole crew in tears. It felt so weird to see all of this now. I don’t think any of us really expected that kind of emotional depth from our documentary movie night. 

We all knew we were in for it now. Freeze was going to be our bot. We had to take care of him. He’d already done so much for us! We needed him to feel safe and comfortable here, and we wanted him to know that we cared about him! We needed to know that he was going to be okay.

I eventally found my way back to my desk for the evening to catch up on my e-mails. At first it looked like I was going to be answering a whole lot of billing receipts, but then I spotted the reply from Dr. Astil. I instantly felt a wave of regret wash over me. I had no idea how Dr. Astil would have responded to the thought of actually helping a Wily bot. I open the e-mail, expecting the worse.

Good morning, 

Let me begin by thanking you for reading my report on robots and stress. I can’t say that particular article gets much traffic. 

Now as per what you described I would wager a guess to say he probably suffers from severe anxiety. Particularly around humans. I also believe that he may be experiencing a type of work dysphoria if he is continuing to do his regular tasks. It sound like you have yourself quite the interesting new companion. 

It can be very emotionally tolling to care for a robot master with severe physical and mental health problems, so I would like to extend my help and councilling for as long as is helpful. I know I certainly wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of a few others in the last 5 years. 

Please keep me updated, I’d love to hear the results of your work no matter the outcome. 

Sincerely,   
Dr. P. Astil. 

Wow, that was surprisingly heartfelt. The weight off my shoulder instantly lifted as the dread subsidded. I began composing my own message back. 

Good Afternoon,

Thank you for your response. I was hoping I wasn’t overstepping any boundaries. Your work on the robotic stress response was insightful and incredibly useful. 

I believe you are correct in your assumptions. It is clear from his behaviour that he is not keen on being around people. He is very slowly warming up to us when he is present at the site, but he’s been gone for the last week or so. If you have any suggestions on how to help us accommodate to his needs I’d be happy to hear them. 

Hope to hear from you soon, 

NRO Station 404, Clarington Masters University.

I hit send and immediately leaned back to grab a notebook and pen. I wrote, “Things for Freeze” at the very top and started a list of bullet points and goals. The first one was ‘human oriented anxiety’ and the second point said ‘contact based anxiety’. I knew he wasn’t good with physical contact, but I didn’t want to lump those two into the same catagory. I began wring another point when my notifications dinged. Another e-mail already?

Good Afternoon, 

Sorry for the speedy response, I have been anxiously awaiting your reply. 

If he is continually travelling between your site then I’d suggest trying to give him something to remember you by. It might sound a bit silly but a lot of robot masters enjoy collecting and giving keepsakes. But don’t feel discouraged if he rejects a present, he may still need time to warm up to you and your team if he’s still very nervous and flighty. I know you don’t have access to a lot of materials where you are, but I think even a nice picture would do. 

Let me know if this works for you. If not I’d suggest continuing what you’re already doing until you see a noticable and reoccurring change in his behaviour. 

Looking forward to your next update,  
Dr. P. Astil. 

It felt good knowing someone else was just as invested in Freeze as we were. I really hoped this would work for him. It wasn’t fair to him that he had to work up here all the time by himself. I couldn’t begin to imagine how terribly lonely it would be. I knew he just needed someone to help him work through his recovery, and on god we were going to be the people to help him do it.


End file.
